I bought one of these mesh grille kits from ebay. Price was 45 pounds (about US$70) + postage. I was a bit surprised to see what actually gets sent...

...two of these.



They are basically just 2 pieces of aluminium mesh cut out using a stencil with a small piece of sticky tape stuck to one corner. The mesh is soft enought to cut with garden scissors and seemed to have been done in a hurry with rough barbs and edges all the way round.

You can buy 1 metre sheets of aluminium mesh for a few pounds and the seller could get maybe 3 sets of these stencils from one sheet so raw material costs for one set could be as little as 2 pounds. To then sell them on as specialised parts at 45 pounds seems bit of a rip off. The items are cleverly displayed in the adverts already mounted inside the grille assembly so you cannot see how simple the item is.

The instructions that come with the item are not very good either telling you to buy a Pozi-drive screwdriver when it is in fact a Torx screwdriver that you need. I found the FAQ thread posted by nineball to be much better.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/m_18238/tm.htm

If anybody is thinking of doing the grilles I would suggest just buying the mesh and cutting it out yourself. I will post the exact dimensions when I am back home at the weekend.

 

I have just asked a mate to get me some Mesh has i thought this would be the case, I was wondering if you could do me a card template and a photo copy of the istructions:confused :

to save my self some time and trouble would obviously reimbure you for postage and a small donation towards recovering your costs

Dave

 

^No worries. I'll just sketch the outline on graph paper with gridlines in centimetres and post a JPG that anyone can print and use. I'll post the instructions too although, like I say, I think nineball's are clearer.

 

thanks mojorising

i was going 2 buy a mesh grill feom Ebay

but now ill make it my self

 

It's not about mesh or chrome , its about how they are advertised . I had bought off some chrome grill add on for one of my vehicles and it came out to be that what they sold as a chrome grill was only a polished plastic abs stuff

 

i was planning on buying it off ebay too, but now im screwed since i don't have the time to sdo this, meh, ill just buy them off this other site

 

http://www.minagallery.com/jagxp/Xty...erior_page.htm
this is were im planning on getting mine
tell me if its reliable/ quality or not

 

Got mine from them when it was jaguar xp. Good solid one piece preformed and no jagged edges.

 

Got mine off eBay; Canadian site, Montreal based. One piece, stainless steel mesh, fitted without any problems after cutting out the vanes on the original grille.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

nice, did u get it off the site i menetioned

 

Anyone tried Adamesh off Ebay? Their stuff is usually pretty good
Check out the links in the general tech help section guys

 

To the original poster: I'm sorry to say this, but you did get ripped off

I bought the Minagallery mesh grille. It was about the same price on Ebay, comes in one piece, and is formed in three dimensions (i.e., it's not just a flat piece of mesh - It's actually contoured to match the shape of the grille opening).

It's also heavier gauge plated metal and has a much richer diamond pattern than the one in your pic, and nicer even the OEM Jaguar grill. The only downside is that I had to trim the edges in a few spots to get it to fit. I had to use a power cut-off wheel to trim it, because wire cutters and scissors couldn't make a dent in the thick gauge metal. I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the Mina Gallery grille, despite this minor inconvenience.

 

I agree...quality is not there....I always prefer stainless over "chrome" anyway...just my preference

CAn you return it?

 

Anybody got some close-ups of their grille mesh so we can compare notes?

When you say contoured, by how much did the 3D molding push the grille's main front surface forward? Is it flush with the grille frame when fitted?

If I put these flat pieces in I can see that they will be recessed behind the grille frame by almost an inch and I am wondering if that might look a bit amateur. It is a shame that just trying it out involves destroying the original assembly so you can't go back if it is no good

nineball's photo thread is good but it does lack photos of step 6 after the original plastic slats are removed so we don't see the un-fitted grille component or the finished article after the job is done.

If anyone has done the job I would be interested to see photos of

a. the grille component before it is fitted to the frame
b. close-ups of the material used to fabricate the grille mesh
c. close-ups of the join between grille mesh and the grille frame after assembly to see the recess gap

Would help me to decide whether to bother using this flat piece at all or just chuck it and buy something decent

 

just chuck it and get the Mina Gallery grille. You won't be disappointed. The difference in quality is night and day. I don't have any affiliation with the company. I'm just a satisfied customer. You can probably see close up pics on Ebay or at minagallery.com.

The best way to describe the contours is to say it's about the same as the fins on the OEM grille. Those curve out about 3/4 of an inch or so. The mina grille is the same, which makes a big difference to the aesthetics when it's installed.

 

nice...

 

Here are the stencil dimensions.

If I go ahead and try this I will post a thread on the process. Not sure whether I will bother using these bits though. The chrome plated wire mesh in 3 dimensions from Mina looks a lot more professional for the same money.

 

I just bought the Mina one last week. Havent had a chance to install it yet, but am very impressed with the quality and would buy another one if I had too. They guarantee it'lll never chip too, which is pretty cool. My only regret is maybe not getting just a primed one from them and getting it painted black to match my black jag. Either way, it's a good quality insert.

I was going to get the lower one too, but I live in Va. and we have front plates here which covers most of the lower part, so I decided against it.

Here's some good installation instructions, although Mina will send you some too:

http://www.darelparker.com/dp/2008/0...-installation/

Good Luck!

 

I installed mine yesterday and love it. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going with the Mina Insert. It's what you're looking for defintiely. The quality cant be beat. Installed and fit perfectly. It took about an hour and a half. You'll definitely need a jigsaw or dremel, so dont start without one.

Some notes about installation:
1. as not shown in the above instructions, before undoing the tabs to remove the back, remove the hex bolts first, then pry the tabs apart to remove.
2. with a jigsaw or a close cut w/ a dremel, you wont need to file down anything. Be careful, I almost took off my arm a few times with the jig. There's lots of vibration going on around the end cuts and it can get away from you.
3. as not shown in the above instructions, you'll need to cut off the front "supports" on the surround that stick out. There's a few round ones and quite a few rectangular shaped ones. These will stop all the peices from being flush when reassembling. I used wire cutters for this and they worked great. No need for a power tool.
4. take your time and use some common sense. This isnt a 10 or 15 minute job. It's easy, but expect it to take between an hour or two.

Check it out: